New Definition
by Silver Miko
Summary: For the Shinobi Love April Challenge. What does the rain mean for Misao?


Author's Note: I missed writing too much, so I broke my no-write at school policy just this once for a little stint. This goes for the Shinobi Love April Rain challenge.  
OH. For those who don't know why I haven't been updating, my laptop fan broke like mid-March and I as of yet can afford to fix it. I'm hoping to get it fixed at latest May. GOMEN NASAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

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New Definition by Silver Miko

"Checkmate"  
"...Damn you, Aoshi-sama!"

He always does that. Always manages to beat me at chess in five moves. You would think after knowing the mysterious, aloof, icy, brooding, etc. etc. Shinomori Aoshi for as long as I have, that I would at least improve to him beating me in like ten moves.  
But no. Five.  
Damn him and his chess genius! It's really not his fault he's ungodly intelligent and gifted. And damn god looking in a simple back sui, white shirt, and black tie which was oh-so-sexily loosened just a bit. But then again, he could be in a potato sack and still be sexy as all hell.  
Blessing for him, curse for me...Makimachi Misao: Unrequited Love Slave of one Shinomori Aoshi.  
It's a simple tale really.  
Boy is orphaned at age five.  
Boy taken in by perverted old man with adorably cute adoptive grandaughter :coughcough:me:cough.  
Boy meets girl.  
Girl adores boy.  
Boy watches over girl.  
Boy more interested in tea.

Okay, maybe not THAT simple.  
You see, Aoshi-sama was orphaned when he was five. His parents died in a car accident while he was at school and so Jiya aka Okina my adoptive grandfather took him in. Okina was a friend of the Shinomori family for many years. It wasn't until five years later that I came into the scene.  
My dad had died when I was really young, like two, so I lived with my mother and grandfather. Then my mom died from leukemia and grandfather shortly after. So Jiya took me in.  
I remember clutching my stuffed panda bear, 'Tama', and walking slowly next to Jiya as we entered the Aoiya. A boy was standing at the bottom of the steps, his black hair slightly ruffled, his blue eyes kind of icy colored. I remember he was dressed in a beige gi and hakama and holding a bokken in his hands.  
'Misao-chan, this is Shinomori Aoshi. He lives here as well'  
Jiya had introduced him to me, and myself to him.  
Aoshi stepped closer to me and bowed slightly, polite and formal, welcoming me.  
I bowed back enthusiastically and thus beganmy pattern of following him everywhere.  
I would follow him to the training hall, to town...wherever.  
He never seemed to object, but he was always and still is a quiet person.  
I sometimes worried I was a bother to him.  
As we grew older, he began teaching me kenpo and kendo, and how to use kunai. Everyone was aware of my obvious crush on Aoshi-sama, well, except him. Even if he did know, he didn't say anything, which maybe was better anyway.  
Aoshi-sama graduated high school when I was thirteen, and moved to Tokyo to go to Toudai to study history and philosophy. The day he left was one of the worst days of my love. I remember it so clearly, even to this day four years later.  
It was April, late April. It had been sunny that day, having rained the week before, so it was a wonderfully mellow warm. The sakura were in full bloom and Kyoto was crowded with people eager for matsuri.  
The Aoiya closed early that night for Aoshi-sama's going away party. Everyone was there, Jiya, Okon, Omasu, Shiro, Kuro, Sae-san who owned the Shirobeko, Hiko-san who was secretly but no so secretly seeing Okon, Saitou-san and his wife Tokio-san who went to school with Aoshi-sama, even our friends from Tokyo came. Himura, Kaoru-chan, Sano, Yahiko-chan, Megumi-san.  
They often visited Kyoto and stayed with us at the Aoiya, Aoshi having met Himura at a kendo competition in Tokyo. It was well known that the two were famed rivals, but after some initial misgivings, the two became good friends. Everyone was there, and thanks to Hiko, mostly everyone was intoxicated.  
Kaoru-chan and Megumi-san sang duets in their drunken behavior while Himura and Sano did shots. I'm pretty sure Jiya was too drunk to notice adolescents were drinking at that point. Hiko and Saitou discussed the Meiji era and the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, whereas Aoshi-sama I noticed had slipped out onto the back porch.  
I had taken a tea tray and loaded it with his favorite tea and some sweet dumplings and cookies, and went outside with him.  
Jiya, for an old man, has a very amazingly pretty garden in the back.  
A still growing sakura tree stood over blue and violet hydrangea bushes and rose bushes and a few magenta azaleas here and there. The other flowers still had yetto bloom.  
It was dark, late evening, and the full moon had been out and the stars shined over the mountains and the city. It had been still warm, but more cool, the night breeze was like a whispering carress against my face as a I silently set the tray down between myself and Aoshi-sama.  
He had looked at me in silent recognition before glancing once more out at the garden. The crickets had finally returned, and their song filled the air which held a lingering scent of rain, the smell of flowers, tea, incense.  
And I had realized that these were things Aoshi-sama would be missing, and his slipping to the back porch was him capturing these things...etching them into his memory to hold onto while he was gone.  
He had been wearing black pants and a black long sleeve shirt, and I myself wore a lavender sundress that had short sleeves on it. My hair was in its usual braid.  
I held out his cup for him, and he accepted it, our fingers brushing lightly and momentarily.  
It hit me then, the real depth of it. It was the last time I would see Aoshi-sama for years. I fought in vain to hold back the tears as I watched him take a sip, the last tea time we'd share for a long time, as I fisted my hands in my lap...my hands shaking.  
I couldn't hold back anymore as I cried out his name, the clatter of the tea tray being pushed aside as I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him as tightly as I could, sobbing into his shirt.  
I felt one of his arms go around my waist, the other stroking my hair.  
He didn't say anything, he just let me cry and held me tighter.  
And when we pulled apart slightly, and I looked into those icy eyes...I saw the wavering and flickering emotion in them.  
I knew it then clearly, he was going to miss me as well.  
I brushed the tears out of my eyes and tried to smile for him. Brightly. 'I'm sorry, Aoshi-sama, I'm such a kid. I'm just going to miss you so much'  
He patted the top of my head and sighed.  
'I'm going to miss you too, Misao. I'm just glad you can take care of yourself since I...won't be around to look after you'  
I had nodded, biting my lip.  
He always thought of himself as my guardian. I always it to be more than that.  
I stood up, had decided to give him a moment alone outside. But I needed to say it. I had to say it.  
Dropping to my knees quickly, I pressed my lips against his cheek.  
'I love you, Aoshi-sama. Even when we're apart, I'll always love you'  
And once more I had stood up and went inside.  
I had gotten so drunk after my confession, and I vaguely recall being picked up and placed into bed. When I woke up the next morning, hungover, it was raining again. I ran to Aoshi-sama's room...but he had already left. It rained for a whole week after that.  
Eventually I became less depressed, Aoshi-sama still talked online or quickly on the phone every now and again. He had gotten an apartment near Toudai, worked part-time in a bookstore, was doing well at school. He and Himura were on the Toudai kendo team. Sometimes I sent him pictures. From my birthday, holidays...whatever. I wanted him to see how I was growing up. He never sent me any pictures, but he was never a picture-taking type of person.  
Because he had to work so much, Aoshi-sama never visited Kyoto. He was so busy, and I was too. When I got into high school I joined various clubs like kendo, drama, cooking, and even ran for student council.  
We were both so busy, but we still made time to talk at night. I wasn't lying when I said even if we were apart, I would always love him. I guess Jiya and others expected me to get over my crush on Aoshi-sama, but the opposite happened.  
My feelings intesified. Instead of getting over it, I fell more in love with him. Not just a childhood infatuation, not just admiration, I loved him as a woman loves a man.  
Too bad Aoshi-sama would never see it that way.  
Sure he cared about me, loved me in his own way, but more like family.  
And I wanted more.  
Then came my high school graduation. It was a really bittersweet day. An ending. A beginning.  
I walked home from school knowing full well there'd be a party. As I opened the door I heard the shouts of 'Congratulations' and smiled.  
And then I saw him. Standing there in the corner in jeans and a button up blue shirt.  
Aoshi-sama.  
I ran past everyone and glomped him, yes, GLOMPED him.  
He hugged me back tightly and it was like he never left.  
He had gotten taller, and I still came up to his chest. We broke apart and took a good look at each other. 'You've grown.' he said softly, having last seen me in person when I was thirteen.  
I was almost eighteen this time.  
'Thank you, Aoshi-sama.' I said, blushing.  
I realized there were other people around to see me that day, and so I reluctantly left his side and socialized...but I always lingered near him.  
He had taken the time to come home to see me for my graduation.  
I. Love. Him. So. Fucking. Much.  
Aoshi-sama was surprised later that day to learn of my rather colorful at times vocabulary.  
He left two days later, and I was sad again.  
He didn't say anything about my confession years earlier. Now here we are, in Tokyo together.  
Sort of.  
I got accepted into Toudai to study literature and language. I had moved here a week ago, now living in a girl's dormitary a couple blocks away.  
Aoshi-sama, being the nice fellow he is, helped me move in and even got me a job at the bookstore he works at. Yay!  
Since he's gonig to be starting grad school here, he'll be around to once more keep an eye on me.  
Always such the guardian. Sigh.  
There's these stone tables with chessboards on them, so for the past couple days we've been playing chess. He had tought me to play when we were kids, but I guess I haven't improved much. I only ever wanted to play with him. Oh, in more ways than one.  
Another interesting thing...with age came perversion with me. I blame it solely on Jiya.  
He looks up at me, a slight smirk on his lips. Damn your sexiness! My fatal weakness! He really looks way too good today in that suit. I guess living in Tokyo has improved his fashion sense, well, he always was a decent dresser.  
I myself was wearing a denim skirt, pink tanktop, and a denim jacket and my black leather "goth" boots. We really must look rather interesting together.  
"Care for another game, Misao"  
"Not really." I sigh, and then I feel it. Drop...drop...on my head.  
I look up...it's raining.  
Of all the stupid luck.  
We stand up as it begins to pour and run for the nearest shelter...being a sakura tree. Not the best, but not the worst.  
We stand close to each other as I reach up and brush my bangs away from my face.  
"Well, that was unexpected." I murmur.  
"Aa"  
"It always rains when we part ways. Did you know that"  
He looks at me.  
"When you left to move here, it rained for a week. Then when you visited, and left again...it rained"  
"so when it rains it means we've parted ways"  
I smiled wistfully.  
"Something like that"  
And then something truly unexpected happens.  
His arms slide around my waist and pull me close.  
I look up into his eyes, water droplets beading off his bangs...so...sexy.  
I couldn't blink as his face drew close to mine, forget how to breathe when his lips touched mine, and then I didn't really care about anything else excpet this moment.  
His lips break away from mine, but still rest against my lips.  
"I'm not going anywhere, Misao, and even when we're apart...I'll always love you"  
I swear my heart stopped.  
The words I had spoken years before.  
Finally answered.  
Spoken before the rain, spoken again as it rained.  
Now instead of signifying our parting ways, the rain...signifies us being together.  
I can live with that.  
Although I really prefer sunshine to be honest.  
Oh well, Aoshi-sama looks like's he's going to kiss me again. Yatta!  
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My stomach hurts. Later. 


End file.
